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Monday, October 15, 2018

IPCC Study Offers Another Dose of Climate Reality

New research reaffirms that we are teetering on the cusp of a man-made climate calamity. The UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report warns that governments must take urgent action to avoid "rapid, far-reaching and unprecedented changes in all aspects of society". The effects of catastrophic warming includes cataclysmic flooding from sea level rise, more extreme weather, wildfires and food shortages.

The report warns that by 2030 we will will breech the upper threshold limit of 1.5 degrees Celsius, a level of warming deemed catastrophic The world is already two thirds of the way there having warmed by 1 degree C since preindustrial norms and the Arctic has already warmed by 1.5 C.Present day reality

As quoted by CNN, Panmao Zhai, co-chair of IPCC Working Group I,
climate change is not some future reality it is with us today and left
unchecked it will get far worse. "One of the key messages that comes out
very strongly from this report is that we are already seeing the
consequences of 1 degree C of global warming through more extreme
weather, rising sea levels and diminishing Arctic sea ice, among other
changes," Zhai said.

Carbon dioxide emissions are the main culprit in anthropogenic climate change, to stave off the worst impacts of global warming we will need to reduce emissions by 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050.

We will need to radically lower the footprints of industry, buildings and cities. We will need to fully embrace renewable forms of energy, radical efficiency and electric transportation. Upon release of the report
former US Vice President Al Gore said: "Today the world's leading scientific experts collectively
reinforced what mother nature has made clear -- that we need to undergo
an urgent and rapid transformation to a global clean energy economy."

If we are to succeed in substantially reducing emissions we will need to radically alter our energy mix focusing on eliminating the use of fossil fuels in both energy production and transportation. A number of studies have come to the same conclusions, we need to wean
ourselves off of fossil fuels and massively ramp-up our production of
renewable energy.

International cooperation

"International cooperation is absolutely imperative to limit emissions
and therefore global warming and its impacts, as well as coordinating
effective and widespread adaptation and mitigation," said Sarah
Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a fellow at the Climate Change Research Center at
the University of New South Wales. "The next few years will be critical
in the evolution of these efforts."

Even if we were prepared to make a consorted international effort we would still need to invest in adaptation strategies. Limiting global warming to 1.5 degree C is "possible within the laws of chemistry and physics," said Jim Skea, co-chair of IPCC Working Group III. "But doing so would require unprecedented changes.".

"International cooperation is absolutely imperative to limit emissions
and therefore global warming and its impacts, as well as coordinating
effective and widespread adaptation and mitigation," said Sarah
Perkins-Kirkpatrick, a fellow at the Climate Change Research Center at
the University of New South Wales. "The next few years will be critical
in the evolution of these efforts."

Sound Science

The IPCC is the global scientific authority on climate change and the science they produce is construed as valid by all but the uninformed and the politically motivated.

“It’s the biggest peer-review exercise there is,” said
Jonathan Lynn, head of communications for the United Nations'
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. “It involves hundreds or even
thousands of people looking at it.”

The Trump administration and Republican lawmakers are opposed to science especially climate science. They cast aspersions on the facts to pander to the fossil fuel industry which is their most important source of financial support.